But they’re all in competition with each other, rather than being complimentary. The shifting civilisation of the Tines is interesting, and so are a lot of the other ideas. Because there are so many ideas at play here, the story drowns in them. Sounds exciting, right? Well, it wasn’t for me. The overall plot here is that two children are adopted by aliens, while an ancient and deadly entity seeks the annihilation of sentient life. As an exploration of hive minds and the alien, A Fire Upon the Deep is truly fascinating, but it’s less successful as a story. But a pack can also heal by adopting new individuals into the pack. To them, losing a member of the pack is like suffering a brain injury, as in the case of a pack that loses several members, with the survivors unable to communicate properly. What makes the Tines really interesting is how the survive in the long term. Sort of wolf-like in appearance and travelling in packs, each Tine is essentially a shared mind between the members of the pack. I don’t see hive minds enough in science fiction, and these are a good example of them. Ultimately, however, this is not a story about humans, it’s a story about the aliens. First of all there is an acknowledgement of the sheer scope of space travel, with suspension chambers for ‘coldsleeping,’ and the human exploration of space is an aspect I would have liked to see more of. You could argue that it was easier to come up with new ideas back then, as there were fewer people to have beaten you to the punch, but even so Vinge’s imagination is impressive. Like a lot of classics, A Fire Upon the Deep is bursting at the seams with ideas. With all that as background, how could I resist? The answer, of course, is that I couldn’t. With such an evocative title, it’s no wonder this book gets talked about so much, and most of what I’ve seen about in online is positive.

A Fire Upon the Deep is perhaps one of the most famous works from that period, and rightly earns a place in the SF Masterworks range. That period in-between is one I’ve picked at a few times, but I have real gaps around the 80s and 90s. The Golden Age of the 40s and 50s, and the modern era of 2010 onward. My science fiction reading covers two large periods. But when species and civilisations of incompatible intellect come into contact, can the result be anything other than violence. For there is a force that suppresses intelligence, and as we travel further into space, we may reach our true potential. The Milky Way is a realm of vast potential.

A fire upon the deep